JOhn and Lizzie or St Mary's... what to do!!

[beforesunrise]

Hi all, am currently 9 weeks pregnant with second baby. first delivery was a natural birth at UCH birthing centre, which went very well and was lovely- apart from the fact that i had a bad tear whcih seemingly no one would stitch up (mw too tired at the end of 16 hours shift, doctors too busy etc)> in the end they did stitch it up 6 hours later and did a cr*p job of it. that sort of traumatised me, but the worse was having to spend a night in the circle of hell, sorry postnatal wards. it was the worst night of my life and this time round we are more comfortable financially and i want to go private.

i went to see John and Lizzie and Lindo Wing. i hated the Lindo approach- don't really want to go consultant led as i do believe in the "natural" experience. but the postnatal rooms were lovely :-)

i liked John and Lizzie a lot and i have kind of decided to go there... but then received a letter from St Marys (the nhs bit) with an appt bang on 12 weeks and it all looked very professional. i actually heard good things about st mary's from a medical point of view and apparently you can then transfer to the lindo for postnatal.

what to do???? the thing that scares me of John And Lizzie is that perhaps due to all the focus on natural birth if something goes wrong they may not pick it up (having said that all my friends who've given birth there have had instrumental/c sections and they've all been fine!). and will they stitch me up allright?

the thing that scares me about st mary's is that i just don't want to go trhough another "labour ward is full", mw attending 2 births at once, horrid doctors treating you like sh*t scenario.

what shoudl i do??? any experiences and stories opinions etc?

thanks!

I had my first and planning my second at J & L and the after birth support etc was fantastic. If you had no intervention with your first I'd have thought it unlikely with your second. I visited the Lindo too but it didn't feel right for me and I think it's important to go with how you feel. I'm not sure where you live but the Chelsea and Westminster do a private midwife service (if you're under 37) and then you are in an NHS hospital if you need any extra care. Feel free to ask any questions re J & L.

thanks. i have mostly heard really good things about j&l. there was a thread further down about a woman whose friend had a near death experience there- although i suppose these things happen everywhere. i think, stragenly enough, i feel less confident with this pregnancy than my first- and i just know that if i go down the consultant route they'll just compound my anxieties by checking and rechecking etc. actually went to see a consultant after dd to fix my stitches who told me that "it serves me right" for not having a c-section. although i was horrified at the time- it stuck with me. i was so proud of my natural delivery and feel that all the trouble afterwards has taken that away from me. i am hoping that j&l will restore my faith and confidence- or am i being a fool, with a lucky escape first time???

am confused- and probably v. hormonal. i had forgotten how hard on the soul being pregnant can be!

Yes I know what you mean as I'm less sure of this pregnancy as I've had problems with it. If you think J & L might be for you, it might be worth making an appointment with the midwife to discuss everything. Also, the obstetrician I see (Britt Clausson) is great and you could also make an appointment with her as a one off to discuss - if you do decide to go midwife led at J & L then she could be your appointed consultant who you see 3 times during the pregnancy. She let me go longer before being induced last time and is happy to keep things as natural as possible. You might want to make a provisional booking in appointment for 12-14 weeks so you have a place even if you decide to go elsewhere as they can get booked fairly quickly. Good luck!

I had DS at St Mary's on the NHS and will be having DC2 (currently 25 weeks pregnant) in the Lindo Wing.

Be VERY wary of the "having the baby on the NHS and then moving to the Lindo Wing post natally". That's what we intended to do and the Lindo Wing was full. Cue 4 appalling days and nights on the post natal ward. Which I blame for triggering PND.

Having said that, I couldn't fault the prenatal care and the birth. Impeccable.